Typographic Specimens

Specimens of 38 of the finest type families in the world are brought together in Typographic Specimens: The Great Typefaces, making it an invaluable reference tool for graphic designers, editors, art directors, production managers, desktop publishers, and students. Each type family is shown in display and text specimens with complete fonts including italic and bold variations; extended families such as Futura and Univers include additional type weights and widths. Each type family's section opens with a full-page experimental design, created by an outstanding graphic designer to demonstrate its potential. The specimens are accompanied by a concise discussion of each type family's origins, charactertistics, and usage. Typographic specimens provide an opportunity to study typefaces, to select and plan typography, and to increase one's knowledge of letterforms. Drawing and tracing specimens remain excellent ways to understand type and create logos and other typographic designs. Study of specimens aids in the selection of fonts to be purchased for the font library. Typographic specimens introduce unfamiliar typefaces in printed form and aid in the development of connoisseurship. Comparative analysis of similar faces in printed form becomes possible. Over one hundred prominent designers and design educators were sent a ballot listing all major typefaces and were asked to vote for the type families that best fulfilled their personal criteria for typographic excellence. The typefaces contained in this book represent the results of this poll, providing a compendium of excellent typefaces that have stood the test of time. Typographic Specimens: The Great Typefaces will provide information, inspiration, and a keener knowledge of typography.

Akzidenz-Grotesk

American Typewriter

Baskerville

Bembo

Bodoni

Bookman

Caledonia

Caslon

Centaur

Century Schoolbook

Cheltenham

Clarendon

Didot

Folio

Franklin Gothic

Frutiger

Futura

Galliard

Gill Sans

Garamond

Goudy Old Style

Helvetica

Janson

Kabel

News Gothic

Optima

Palatino

Perpetua

Plantin

Sabon

Serifa

Stone Sans

Stone Serif

Stymie

Times New Roman

Trump Mediaeval

Univers

Zapf Book